Garth Brooks files request to transfer sexual assault case to federal court

Garth Brooks is trying to get his case in federal court after a former employee filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting her.

The 62-year-old country music superstar filed papers on Nov. 1 to have his complaint against the woman, who initially filed an anonymous “Jane Roe,” moved from California Superior Court to federal court, according to People.

According to documents obtained by the publication, Brooks’ attorneys requested the transfer because his accuser was asking for damages in excess of $75,000, which would put the amount within the range that can be covered in federal courts.

DailyMail.com has contacted Brooks’ representative seeking comment.

The singer, who has strongly denied the woman’s allegations, previously claimed he was the “victim of a shakedown” and accused the accuser of “blackmailing” him in legal documents.

While you’re talking to Entertainment tonightlegal expert Tre Lovell explained that Brooks may also be eligible to have the lawsuit moved to federal court because he is from Tennessee, while Roe is from Mississippi.

Among the potential “benefits” of a federal trial are a “faster trial date” and a “broader jury pool.”

“Los Angeles is more of a jury of minority jurors,” Lovell said, implying that composition would be more favorable to Roe.

“In federal court you have a broader jury pool, and a broader jury pool would help Garth in this case as well, I think,” he added.

The legal expert suggested that federal judges might be more willing to dismiss the case, and he also noted that they might be more likely to seal the files, which could prevent embarrassing details about the singer’s alleged interactions with his accuser from being revealed. would come to light. the public.

Brooks was previously so upset that his name was released by Roe’s attorneys that he refiled his initial complaint last month with her full name listed.

The singer had filed an anonymous preemptive countersuit in federal court in Mississippi in September, although his accuser ultimately filed her lawsuit on October 3 in California.

In his filing, he said the lawsuit was filed after he received a “letter of formal notice” from Roe’s attorney.

In her lawsuit, the anonymous woman accused Brooks of fostering a sexually hostile workplace prior to the alleged rape in 2019.

A legal expert told ET that Brooks could benefit from a more sympathetic jury pool, a faster trial and judges more willing to dismiss cases in federal court.

The singer’s lawyers claim they want to go to federal court because Jane Roe has filed for more than $75,000 in damages; pictured with wife Trisha Yearwood in May 2023 in Frisco, Texas

She claimed he “took advantage” of the financial problems she was facing around 2019 by asking her for sexual favors.

Roe accused Brooks of once coming out of a shower naked “with an erection” that he forced her to touch. He allegedly took her hand and told her he was fantasizing about the moment and wanted her to perform a sexual act on him.

In a filing from early October, she included screenshots of a sexually explicit text message conversation she allegedly had with Brooks.

She claimed things escalated in May 2019, when he asked her to travel with him to Los Angeles for a Grammy Awards tribute to Sam Moore. She claimed he booked a one-bedroom hotel suite and refused to give her her own room.

She accused Brooks of brutally raping her during the trip before moving on her explicit text messages and encouraged her to sext him in return.

The woman also claimed he bragged about having “fucked multiple women in every corner of a hotel room,” “white, black, brown or whatever… on any surface.”

She said Brooks repeatedly discussed the possibility of a threesome with Yearwood and Roe, and that he exposed himself to her and groped her body, including her breasts, several times, the lawsuit alleged.

Remarkably, Roe believed Yearwood had ‘heard it’ [his suggestion of a threesome] on at least one occasion,” and she said his wife was present for a particularly lewd conversation in which Brooks talked about inventing a shampoo bottle that could double as a dildo.

Roe claimed the conversation made her so uncomfortable that she didn’t want to participate, which angered Brooks so much that he “hit his fists on the counter so hard in frustration that the items on the counter moved and he leaned over and spoke menacingly.” . way to Mrs. Roe.”

Roe’s legal team accused Brooks of pretending to be in settlement talks while using her sexual abuse complaint to file his own preemptive lawsuit.

In the country superstar’s lawsuit, he alleged that Roe faced financial problems after moving to Mississippi.

He claimed she asked him for financial assistance, which he said he provided, but Brooks said the woman’s “demands for financial assistance only increased, with defendant ultimately asking plaintiff for gainful employment and medical benefits.”

Brooks is from Tennessee and the woman is from Mississippi, which could help a move to federal court. She filed her lawsuit in California; pictured at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards

After Brooks exposed the woman in a refiled lawsuit, she archived screenshots of sexually explicit text conversations in which he was allegedly involved; seen in March 2023 in Nashville

Brooks refused and, he alleged, “she responded with false and outrageous allegations of sexual misconduct that she said occurred years ago.”

His lawsuits say that on July 17, an attorney acting on Roe’s behalf sent Brooks a “demand letter alleging a litany of sexual misconduct… ranging from allegations of sexual ‘grooming,’ creating a sexually hostile work environment, unwanted sexual touching and sexual assault.’

In his lawsuit, Brooks alleged that Roe also asserted her belief that he “intended to hire someone to kill her.” This claim was not included in Roe’s own lawsuit.

Brooks claimed the demand letter was the first time he had heard of any of the allegations against him.

He stated that the letter threatened to “publicly file a civil complaint” – the draft of which was attached – unless he “agreed to pay… millions of dollars.”

“The letter referenced several celebrity sexual misconduct lawsuits with multi-million dollar jury awards,” his lawsuit alleged.

In a follow-up letter dated August 23, 2024, Brook says in the filing that Roe again “offered to refrain from publicly filing her false and defamatory lawsuit… in exchange for a multi-million dollar payment.”

He claimed: ‘She threatened that as [Brooks] If he were to fail to meet this requirement, he would face multi-million dollar exposure based on [his] net worth.’

The top solo artist in Recording Industry Association of America history, Friends in Low Places, who sold nearly 150 million albums, has an estimated net worth between $300 million and $350 million.

He has at times been the highest paid celebrity in the world. Between June 2017 and June 2018, he earned $45 million. During the same period in 2019 – the year Roe accuses him of raping her – he earned $25 million.

Brooks’ country singer Trisha Yearwood’s wealth puts their net worth as a couple at around $400 million.

Jane Doe alleged that Brooks raped her during a business trip and then sent her sexually explicit text messages. She also says he tried to talk her into having a threesome with his wife Trisha Yearwood, with Yearwood allegedly overhearing one of the discussions; Brooks and Yearwood are pictured in April 2022

Yearwood, 60, and Brooks have been married for 21 years and have homes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as Nashville, Tennessee, and Malibu, California.

Brooks broke his silence Thursday night, hours after issuing a strong legal denial of rape and battery allegations against the makeup artist he has known for more than two decades.

Brooks shared an update on Instagram after his show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, writing to fans that he “really needed this.”

He uploaded a photo of the huge crowd that turned out to be cheering him on and wrote: ‘If there was ever a night where I really needed this, TONIGHT was that night! Thank you for my life!!!!love, g.”